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3.58 AVERAGE
3.58 AVERAGE
adventurous
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4 1/2. I loved the writing in these stories, and I can tell I'll be a fan of this author. My only quibble is some of these feel more like excerpts from a novel than contained stories. But this was a great beach book.
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
emotional
funny
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
“You would love to make him waffles with strawberries and sit in the warm morning sunshine of your kitchen and tell him about the day he was born, and how when he turned twenty-four hours old, you cried because you never wanted him to get any bigger.”
I adore most of what Heiny writes, including several of these short stories (especially That Dance You Do, a mom’s perspective of her son’s birthday party), but I struggled reading about so much adultery. Even so, the writing was typical Heiny, funny, a little weird, and all about being human. Even if I couldn’t entirely connect with all the stories, there are pieces to love throughout.
I adore most of what Heiny writes, including several of these short stories (especially That Dance You Do, a mom’s perspective of her son’s birthday party), but I struggled reading about so much adultery. Even so, the writing was typical Heiny, funny, a little weird, and all about being human. Even if I couldn’t entirely connect with all the stories, there are pieces to love throughout.
While touted as a collection of short stories, "Single, Carefree, Mellow" actually just seemed like the same story told 10 (somewhat) different ways. The characters were entirely recycled from chapter to chapter - the main character always a cheating, young female writer. My guess this isn't much of a stretch for the author. The male characters are also replicas of one another, sharing the same personality traits and behaviors ("come facts" and focus on nationalities/accents).
None of these characters are "single", most are actually married with lovers on the side, which is pretty far from single in my book. The overall focus on adultery was overdone, with the author even stating at one point when introducing a character, "She was married, obviously." Yes, it was obvious how uncreative this author is.
Overall, the writing seemed like that of a mediocre YA novel, the most convincing story being the one from the perspective of a teenager. For an author who paints her characters as intelligent, literary-minded women, the language is stifled and trite, descriptions are cliché and characters one-dimensional. This book left much to be desired.
None of these characters are "single", most are actually married with lovers on the side, which is pretty far from single in my book. The overall focus on adultery was overdone, with the author even stating at one point when introducing a character, "She was married, obviously." Yes, it was obvious how uncreative this author is.
Overall, the writing seemed like that of a mediocre YA novel, the most convincing story being the one from the perspective of a teenager. For an author who paints her characters as intelligent, literary-minded women, the language is stifled and trite, descriptions are cliché and characters one-dimensional. This book left much to be desired.
challenging
emotional
medium-paced
I loved this collection of stories and only took off some star points because I felt the theme wore out by the end. But I highly recommend! Don’t be put off by the reviews offended by the adultery. If that will offend you, perhaps skip it, but I thought this was honestly and tastefully done.
I rarely read short story collections, but I'm glad I picked up Single, Carefree, Mellow as many of the stories were delightful as well as funny. I look forward to reading more by Katherine Heiny.
Katherine Heiny's debut is actually the last of her three books that I read, and I'm grateful that I did it in that order. These stories are good, but they don't have the Heiny hallmark of decency that I've come to love in her novels. I suppose most short stories tend to be a little more caustic and a little more biting, whereas EARLY MORNING RISER and STANDARD DEVIATION gave the characters a bit more grace and generosity of spirit.
I'm glad I finally got around to this one though.
I'm glad I finally got around to this one though.
Book Riot 2015 Read Harder Challenge: A book published this year